HOTEL REVIEW


PREVIOUS PAGE AND ABOVE LEFT: Brasserie Europa offers a Thai interpretation of contemporary European design ABOVE RIGHT: The 1897 Bar LEFT: In addition to its 303 guestrooms, the hotel has 98 serviced residences


The garden features a complex, angular


swimming pool, which surrounds a central island of lawn, frangipani trees and decking areas. There are 21 ground floor cabana rooms and duplex suites providing direct access to the water via terraced steps, with the pool’s edges providing a modicum of private space. But while all the rooms are inward looking, the interior styling, direction and art on offer reflect the culture of the whole country. HBA worked with Thai artists, all born after 1960, a policy that delivers a contemporary atmosphere in the public areas.


“We had an enlightened patron,” explains Ian Carr, Design Director of HBA Singapore and lead designer on the project. “It takes a great effort and a real will to patronise modern Thai culture in this way. The space feels more like a National Gallery, in fact I’ve heard that there are arranged tours for locals, who want to see the art on display.” HBA has made much of their chosen, and entirely apt, repeating motif – the lotus: “We’ve used the emblem throughout, but with subtlety”, points out Carr, and it’s there on the artisanal stone flower buds on the front


112 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM


entrance wall; the large leaf fountain in the lobby and smaller metal trays for fruit; and the flowers also adorn silkscreen art over the beds. The bedrooms themselves are divided into four categories – deluxe, premier, executive and cabana, and are situated in two wings. Each room has a balcony featuring lattice rattan tables and chairs by Kenneth Cobonpue, matched by the interior chairs, sofa and a ‘Pigalle’ writing desk. As Carr points out, all the furniture has been made for the hotel: “A lot of it is bespoke, all of it is custom-evolved – even if it means we made


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